THIS WEEKEND Harrison
Ford scored his first number one opening in eight years with the much-hyped
adventure sequel Indiana Jones and the Kingdom
of the Crystal Skull which dominated moviegoing over the Memorial
Day holiday weekend grossing more than all other films in the marketplace
combined. But despite the explosive start for the long-awaited return of
Indy, the rest of the box office slumped with few strong performances from
supporting players. Overall it was the slowest Memorial Day weekend in
five years.

19 years after the last installment, the Indiana
Jones franchise proved that it was still relevant in today's
entertainment world as Crystal Skull
opened to a stunning $126.9M over the four-day Friday-to-Monday holiday
period, according to final studio figures.
The Friday-to-Sunday portion accounted for $100.1M and since the Paramount
release's Thursday launch the cume has soared to $152M in five days. Playing
in 4,260 locations, the PG-13 pic averaged a sensational $23,507 over three
days and $29,793 over four days.

The Friday-to-Sunday figure ranks as the tenth highest debut in box
office history while the cume is the sixth best five-day start ever. The
only other films to gross more in their first five days of release were
Star Wars Episode III ($172.8M, Thu-Mon),
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($169.5M,
Fri-Tue), Spider-Man 3 ($169.4M, Fri-Tue),
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ($153M,
Thu previews-Mon), and Spider-Man 2
($152.4M, Wed-Sun). Not bad company. The $185M-budgeted Kingdom
also enjoyed the second largest Memorial Day weekend opening ever after
last year's At World's End which looted
$139.8M over its official Friday-to-Monday period.

Crystal Skull marked the reunion
of Ford with director Steven Spielberg and executive producer George Lucas
while newcomers like Shia LaBeouf and Cate Blanchett joined the cast for
this fourth escapade. Reviews were mixed but generally positive. The five-day
opening began with $25M on Thursday. Friday saw a 22% increase to $30.6M,
Saturday jumped another 20% to $36.5M, Sunday dipped by 10% to $33M, and
Monday declined 19% to $26.8M.

The new Indiana Jones adventure
also attacked multiplexes around the world and grossed a stellar $160M
internationally since its first launches on Wednesday. Indy ranked number
one in all 61 territories it opened in and brought its global cume to $311M
in less than one week of play.

Last week's top film The Chronicles of Narnia:
Prince Caspian tumbled in its second weekend of release to $29.8M
over four days as the Friday-to-Sunday portion collapsed by a horrific
58%. It was the worst gross in nine years for the second place film over
Memorial Day weekend. In 1999, Notting Hill
claimed that spot with $27.7M over four days behind chart-topper Star
Wars Episode I. However, that amount would be about $38M at
today's prices so the new Narnia still
sold fewer tickets.

Caspian boosted its 11-day total
to $97.9M and looks as if it will top out at $140-150M from North America
or about half of the $291.7M that The Lion, The
Witch, and The Wardrobe grossed. This is a major stumble for
Disney which has been developing Narnia
as a long-term franchise meant to keep revenue flowing in for several years
to come.

The year's top-grossing smash Iron Man
finished its fourth weekend in third with a strong $26.1M over four days
and watched its cume skyrocket to $258.3M. The three-day portion dropped
by just 37%. Paramount and Marvel continued to benefit from solid word-of-mouth
as the super hero flick raced up to number 40 on the list of all-time domestic
blockbusters surpassing I Am Legend's
$256.4M. With both Iron Man and Indiana
Jones rocking the holiday box office, Paramount dominated the
multiplexes accounting for a whopping 72% of the entire top ten. The Robert
Downey Jr. sensation is a virtual lock to join the $300M club now.

Moviegoers looking for a comedy over the long weekend found it in the
Cameron Diaz-Ashton Kutcher pic What Happens in
Vegas which took in $11.4M over four days. Meanwhile Speed
Racer continued to crash and burn falling to $5.3M. Each film
was in its third weekend. Totals stand at a robust $56.6M for the Fox hit
and a miserable $37.5M for the pricey Warner Bros. entry.

Both Speed Racer and Prince
Caspian were expected to add muscular numbers to the May box
office but moviegoers have not been too impressed. The weaker-than-expected
openings and the steep declines have led to a lack of depth in the marketplace
as the Memorial Day frame usually sees strong contributions from a number
of different films.

Laughing up $4.2M was the romantic comedy Made
of Honor raising Sony's cume to $39.9M. Universal's pregnancy
comedy Baby Mama held up well again
grossing $4.2M in four days boosting the overall take to $53M.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall was still
remembered by audiences in its sixth frame taking in $2.3M for a $58.8M
total for Universal. New Line's Harold & Kumar
Escape From Guantanamo Bay followed with $1.2M in its fifth
outing for a $36.2M sum. Rounding out the top ten was the indie hit The
Visitor with $940,037 lifting the cume to $4.6M.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $212.3M over four days which
was down 13% from last year when Pirates of the
Caribbean: At World's End opened in the top spot with $139.8M;
and down 8% from 2006 when X-Men: The Last Stand
debuted at number one with $102.8M.

Compared to projections, Indiana Jones and
the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opened below my five-day forecast
of $165M.

For a NEW review of Crystal Skull
plus a NEW DVD review of Indiana Jones -
The Adventure Collection visit The
Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Thursday
for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Sex
and the City and The Strangers
both debut.

This column is updated three times each week:
Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Opinions expressed in this column are those solely of
the author.